It’s not purely a cerulean blue, I’ve muddied it up, added some more blues, a dash of some greens, earthy tones, to get the colour more accurate to the objects. But there’s enough cerulean blue in it to call it so.

This painting has several objects, all from an antique shop near my home. The only thing the objects have in common is their colour. I’ve arranged them in a way that makes the painting pretty much immediately recognisable as one of mine.

So I spend a great deal of time focussing on the tiny little details of the painting. I look at the painting inch by inch. By the end of the day, after I’ve worked my way across the entire surface, I leave the studio and come back and glimpse the paintings with fresh eyes. And the boldness of these colourful paintings is striking. I like the direction.

I post these in-progress images to Instagram. If you have an account, check out my work. I think a well-curated Instagram account is a great way to get inspiration.

Perhaps my paintings are more about the composition rather than the subject. Perhaps the paintings are about the simple satisfaction of organised thoughts and ideas — straight forward, made easy to understand. Represented as well as I possibly can.

I use these old objects because these things have character built-in. Maybe the object doesn’t matter at all. Maybe the subject is the colour, the shapes, the design of the painting, the coupling of objects, the lines – all these other elements. Perhaps these are more about design principles than painting principles.

I painted a toy truck eight years ago. I sold the painting on eBay to a collector in Spain.

I’m working a series of paintings based on color, not necessarily the subject being the focus. Initially, as I get the paintings started, I get little pangs of doubt, but one thing I’ve learned over the years is to persevere and see the paintings through. Finish what you start. It’s the only way you learn and grow.

An iPhone snap of a work in progress — a triplet set of antique oil lanterns.

I love the built-in symbolism of the lanterns. One has “beacon” written right on it. They’re sources of light. I was chatting with my brother as I was painting this and talked about them being a set of three. I told him how when I was in art school I’d pin down the significance of the set of three. I’d find examples of threes in history, cultural references to threes. These are the parts I now like to leave out. I prefer people who might buy the paintings to be the ones to fill in the blanks, to attach their own interpretations, their own versions and stories.

Here’s a quick iPhone snap of what I’ve been working on today — antique and vintage bottles in a variety of shapes — for my upcoming July 2015 show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery.

The shapes, refractions, reflections, highlights on the glass surface are all abstract shapes. When you focus on 1″x 1″ areas on a painting, it really does start to feel abstract. Of course, with my work, a glance at the entirety shows that it’s straight-up realism.

A classic Corona No.3 typewriter from around 1912 — almost like they wanted someone to paint a portrait of it. When industrial design was guided by the mechanics of the machine.

I also have a Tom Thumb “toy” typewriter for the 1950s in the works.

More vintage film projector in the works.

Today I’m going to work on refining details, surface texture and laying down more shadows to give depth.

I bought this projector years ago. It was in a case, and I completely forgot about it. It ended up mixed up with all the other vintage luggage that I’ve collected over the years. During my recent move, I picked up the case and could not figure out why it was so heavy. Opening up the case was like that experience when you find cash in your spring jacket pocket after a year.

A few action shots of some work I have in progress. These will be part of a July 2015 exhibition at the Elliott Fouts Gallery.